The family of 13-year-old Hallel Ariel, who was murdered in her bed in Kiryat Arba by a Palestinian terrorist, has begun fundraising for a visitor center in her memory.
“Hallel, who was always smiling, had an immense love of dance and movement, loved animals and dreamed of being a zoologist, ” the family wrote in the crowd funding website Headstart. “Hallel loved working in the family vineyard and helped at every opportunity. Hallel was a girl with spiritual depth, who loved to learn and understand the world on different level and had profound insights; a girl who radiated light to everyone around her; who brought with her new strength, love and light to the world.”
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“Hallel, who was murdered in her sleep, loved the land … we tried to think of how we could memorialize her, ” said her mother, Rina. “One of the things we thought about was to build an educational visitors center that people could come to, hear the story of the land, the story of the people, the story of the wine and Hallel’s story.”
The mother went on to say that “everyone is invited to join in to create an open house for Hallel’s memory.”
“The murder struck us and threw up into the darkest put—it’s the biggest nightmare of any parent, ” Rina said. “I think this enterprise of vineyards in Israel, a potential for something big, really gives us the strength to hold on.”
Those who donate NIS 52 will receive a letter of thank you. For NIS 200, donors will receive two tickets to a tour of the Temple Institute, in which Hallel’s mother Rina has been active for many years. A NIS 250 donation will reward the benefactor with wine that Hallel bottled herself.
The highest sum that can be donated is NIS 10, 000, and those who contribute that will be honored as “true friends” of the center and given a wooden plaque at the visitor center’s inauguration ceremony.
The goal of the campaign, which was launched on Saturday night (July 30), is to raise NIS 450, 000. So far, over NIS 11, 000 have been raised.
“After we visited Hallel’s grave on the 30th (day after her death), friends came together in an effort to raise money to open a visitor center in her memory. This will be an educational center that will serve as a lively and active place in Kiryat Arba, in line with Hallel’s spirit, ” Rina Ariel explained to Ynet.
According to the family, the center, which will be called “Hallel Vineyard, ” will offer tours of the vineyard and the Kiryat Arba area, where Hallel grew up.
